Christa Pike to be executed in Tennessee after Supreme Court rejects final appeal

The US Supreme Court has refused to halt the execution of Christa Pike, 50, convicted in 1996 for murdering a teenage classmate in Tennessee.

Tennessee set to execute first woman in over 200 years

The US Supreme Court has refused to block the execution of Christa Pike, bbc.com reports, clearing the way for her death by lethal injection at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution in Nashville on Wednesday at 11:00 EDT (15:00 GMT).

Pike, 50, has been on death row since 1996, when she was convicted of the murder of Colleen Slemmer, a 19-year-old she and her then-boyfriend beat, tortured and killed at a job training camp for troubled teens. Pike was 18 at the time of the offence.

Her attorneys had filed a last-minute petition with the high court seeking a reprieve ahead of the scheduled execution date, but the court denied the request.

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee also turned down a clemency application on Monday, stating he would not intervene in the planned execution.

Pike will become the first woman executed in Tennessee in more than 200 years. Since the 1970s, only 18 women have been put to death in the United States, compared to 1,663 men.

Source: Google News IE — Crime (en)